Trailer hitching



March 28; 19 39. H, 5 JANDUS ET AL 2,151,920

TRAILER HITCHING Filed June 5, 1957 V I I7 HERBERT \S. JANDUS E BROOKEHAROLD Patented Mar. 28', 1939 UNITED STATES Tasman m'rcnma Herbert s.Jandus and Harold Lee Brooke, De-

troit, Mich., assignors, Houdaille-Hershey by mesne assignments,Corporation, Detroit,

Mich., a corporation of Michigan Application June 5, 1937, Serial No.146,532

This invention relates to the hitching of trailers to automobiles ormotor cars, the general object being to provide for convenient and morepractical hitching connection and arrangement.

Heretoi'ore, the .general arrangement for hitching a trailer to anautomobile has been to connect the end of the trailer tongue by asuitable hitch "connection or coupling with the end of a draw barstructure secured to and extendin rearwardly from the automobile chassisor axle structure. Many of these prior hitching arrangements requiredthe securing of cumbersome structures to the automobile body to serve asa draw bar and to support a hitch member, usually a ball for receivingcompanion hitch structure on the trailer tongue, and in many caseshitching and 'unhitohing can be accomplished only with difl'iculty andinconvenience.

As all automobiles and motor cars are provided with rear bumperstructures, our invention proposes to utilize rear bumper structures asdraw bar structures to which the trailers may be hitched. In accordancewith our invention, rear bumper structures may retain their generaldesign and enough resiliency so that they may properly function asbumpers when there is no trailer hitched thereto, but the bumperstructures are sufficiently strengthened to act as draw bar structuresto which a trailer may be conveniently hitched and which structures mayafford a more or less resilient connection between a trailer and anautomobile-body.

The various features of our invention are incorporated in the structureshown on the drawing, in which drawing:

Figure l is a plan view of a rear bumper secured to the ends of avehicle chassis and showing the end of a trailer tongue hitched thereto;Figure 2 is an end view of the structure shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is an enlarged front view of the hitch member elementssupported on the bumper struc-.-

ture; and 1 Figure 4 is an enlarged section on plane IV-IV of Figure 1.

Referring to Figure l, the bumper structure shown comprises thehorizontally extending front bumper or impact bar i secured along itsmiddle portion, as by bolts 2, to the yoke portion of a U-shapesupportingbar structure 3 whose legs 4 extend diagonally rearwardly tobe secured, as by bolts 5, to the webs of the vehicle chassis side beams6. a

The hitch connection with the bumper structure comprises a box-likehollow frame I, having I to the webs of the chassis beam 6, andbraces i9"socket member 3i, a hinge pin 32 extending 1 Claim. (Cl. 280-3344) alip 8 depending from its upper front corner for overhanging the top edgeof the impact bar I, the lower edge portion of the impact bar beingreceived by a lip 9' extending upwardly from a bracket ill securedagainst the underside of the '5 frame I as by means of bolt Ii. Theimpact bar shown is of forwardly convex transverse curvature, the yokeportion of the supporting bar structure 3 engaging in the rear concaveside of the-impact bar so thatwhen the frame i is applied and thebracket i0 secured thereto, the impact bar and the supporting bar 3 willbe clamped by the lips 8 and 9 against the front side of the frame i andthe frame securelyheld in place at a point midway between the ends ofthe bumper structure.

In order to further secure and to stabilize the hitch frame 'i, aU-shape cross bar structure 12 may be provided as shown on the bumperstructure with its yoke portion secured to the rear wall of the frame ias by bolts l3, and the legs I! of the bar structure I2 may be secured,as bywbolts iii, to the legs 4 of the main supporting bar structure 3.Further strength of the bumper structure may be obtained by deflectingthe end portions iii of the legs of the bar i2 laterally inwardly forsecuring, as by bolts' IT, with an angle brace i8 extending between andsecured may be secured to and extend between the ends of the angle bari8 and the chassis beams;

A stud 20 extends through an opening 2i in the top wall of the frame 'i,the stud having a seating flange 22 engaging the top of the frame andthe lower end of the stud being threaded for reception of a nut 23 forclamping the stud in place, a the stud at its upper end terminating in aball 24.

As shown, the tongue. 25 of a trailer (not shown) has a cylindricalshank 26 extending therefrom which has the semi-cylindrical extension 21in whichis formed the semi-spherical socket 28 to receive the ball 24.At its outer end the socket member 21 has hinge ears 29' for receivingbetween them a hinge lug 30 on the companion through the ears and lugs.The socket member 3i has a semi-spherical socket, and when this memberis swung away from the socket mem-' ber- 21, this socket member 21 maybe applied to receive the ball 24 and the socket member 3i is then swungto closed position so that the ball will be received in the opposedsemi-spherical sockets. To secure the socket members together in ballclamping position, a sleeve 32 isprovided on the shank 26, which sleeveis slid outwardly after I application thereof to the ball, and when itis desired to unhitch, the sleeve is shifted inwardly to release thesocket member 3|. The arrangement may be substantially like that shownfor example in Patent No. 1,977,065, dated October 16, 1934, but anyother suitable coupling structure may be used for receiving the hitchball 24.

The hitch ball 24 is a sufllcient distance above the frame 7 so thatthere will be no danger of the trailer tongue 25 striking the bumperstructure impact bar when the coupled vehicles turn corners or travelover irregular roadways. A guard wall 33 is also preferably" provided onthe frame 1 behind the hitch connection. The wall 33, or the front facethereof, may be transversely arcuate with the center of curvature in theaxis of the stud 20, the wall thus facilitating proper alignment forhitch connection, when the vehicles are moved together for hitching ofthe trailer to the automobile.

The bracket It] may be provided with a. depending flange 34 having holes35 therethrough which may be utilized for supporting electric conductorsextending from the automobile to the trailer, or

' which might be utilized for supporting structure against impact by thetrailer when the automobile makes very sharp turns.

We thus provide improved and more practical hitching arrangement inwhich the rear bumper structure of an automobile may efllciently' servethe purpose of a draw bar structure ad support a hitch member forconvenient hitch connection with a trailer, and, with the bumper barstructures flexibility, may afford a yieldable and shock absorbingconnection between the vehicle and the trailer. Rear bumper barstructures on automobiles may retain their individuality of design butcan readily have their structure and their connection with the vehiclechassis modified to provide the strength necessary for functioningthereof as a resilient draw bar structure for trailer propulsionservice. Types of hitch connection between a trailer and the bumperstructure, other than that shown, may be used. We do not thereforedesire to be limited to the exact construction, arrangement, andoperation shown and described, as the main feature of our invention isthe utilization of a bumper structure as a draw bar structure forconnection of trailer vehicles to automobile vehicles.

We claim as follows:

A trailer hitching attachment for a bumper structure having a fronthorizontally extending impact bar and a rear horizontally extendingreinforcing bar spaced away therefrom, said attachment comprising ahollow rectangular block for fitting between said bars and adapted tohave its rear wall secured to the reinforcing bar, a depending lip alongthe front upper edge of said block for receiving the upper edge of theimpact bumper bar, a detachable bracket engaging the lower wall of saidblock and having an upwardly extending lip for receiving the lower edgeof the impact bumper bar whereby said impact bumper bar may be clampedbetween said lips, and an upwardly extending stud secured to the topwall of said block and terminating in a ball for receiving hitchingsocket structure on trailers.

HERBERT S. JANDUS. HAROLD LEE BROOKE.

